


Just Between You and Me

by totilott



Series: A Groovy Kind of Love [15]
Category: DCU (Comics), Justice League International (Comics)
Genre: M/M, Secret Relationship, Sexual Frustration, Trouble In Paradise, club jli, fun in the sun, kooey kooey kooey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-19 08:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20327836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totilott/pseuds/totilott
Summary: This Kooey Kooey Kooey endeavor is going to be their big break, Ted's sure of it.





	Just Between You and Me

Ted licks his lips, the shock of salt on his tongue more brazing than unpleasant. The sea around him is a clear teal, bordering on azure in the distance. It’s a fantasy kind of sea, like something out of a children’s book. Colors clearer than they have any right to be.

He pauses his swimming, his body gently coming to a vertical position, and turns to face the island. He squints against the sun, unable to spot that thread-thin pearly white line signifying the beach, and for a moment he feels a cold streak of anxiety run down his spine, that he’s swum too far, that he’s lost his way. The sea, behind him, stretches on into infinity, a beautiful but terrifying horizon of nothing but water and sky. It would be a horrible but pretty way to go.

But he can still hear the sound of bright pop music bouncing over the water, and with a huff he begins to swim back, the sun playing on the surface of the sea, blinding him, tiring his eyes. With one eye closed against the shimmer he can finally spot the pale sand and he heads towards it, feeling the water getting even warmer the closer he gets to shore. Finally he feels the ground underneath him, and walks the final distance to dry land, where Booster’s lying on a brightly colored towel, baking in the sun next to a battery-powered cassette player.

_“...In my imagination there is no hesitation, we walk together hand in hand...”_

“Mm,” Booster stretches lazily in the sun, beads of sweat on his bronzed skin. “Nice swim?”

Ted flops down next to him, dabbing his face with a towel. “I don’t think I’ve swum in the ocean since I was a kid.”

“Good, huh?”

“I mean--” Ted pulls the towel over his head, rubbing vigorously to dry his curls. “Chlorine or saltwater, your eyes burn either way.”

Booster chuckles.

Ted drapes his towel over his shoulders and steals an admiring glance at Booster lying so tall and relaxed next to him in purple swim trunks and mirror sunglasses, his body slick with sweat, his color a deeper tan than Ted’s ever seen on him.

_“...I should be so lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, I should be so lucky in love...”_

Ted swallows and looks away, memories of a similar image, a cologne ad in a magazine, making something burn inside him. The temptation coming in waves these last few days.

Gotta keep cool, gotta keep things on the down low in public. Especially here.

Or not in public per se. This part of the beach is well shielded from their clientele by the dense vegetation, the one bottleneck to approach it clearly marked with a sign: _EXECUTIVE AREA. KEEP OUT._

You establish a resort in paradise, you’re entitled to enjoy it in piece and quiet, aren't you?

Ted leans over towards his pile of clothing, reaching for his shirt, when Booster abruptly sits up and gestures to him.

“No, don’t.”

Ted freezes, his arm outstretched, regarding the pile of clothes lying on the ground with sudden suspicion. All kinds of creepy crawlies in these kinds of paradises. Could be something poisonous, even. “Why not?"

“Because I like the view.” Booster grins at him, lifting up his sunglasses with one hand. 

Ted can feel the rush of warmth to his face, and smiles self-consciously. “Booster.” It sounds more reproachful than he means it to.

“Besides,” Booster lowers his sunglasses again, still facing him. “A bit of color would look so good on you.”

“I don’t get ‘a bit of color’.” Ted makes a face. “I get burnt, that’s all the color I ever get.” He feels even more self-conscious with them both outside in the sun, both of them in swimwear. Booster is smart to wear sunglasses around him, he could probably legally blind him with all this deathly pale skin.

Booster belongs on sunny beaches, Ted in cellar workshops.

“You just don’t use the right products. Or, well,” Booster slides down in his back again, resting his head on his forearm. “Knowing you, you don’t use _any_ products. Zero skin care, the Ted Kord way.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen your bathroom,” Ted smirks. “You’ve probably put some drug store employee’s kids through college seven times over.” He reaches for his shirt again, eager to cover himself, when Booster makes a frustrated noise.

“You think I get top-shelf stuff like this from a drug store?” Booster sits up and twists around to grab a bottle from the sand. “Come on. Just try this one, it's excellent. You won’t burn, I promise.”

Ted sighs, resting his elbows on his knees. He doesn't particularly feel like walking around, the boss of Club JLI, skin bright red and flaking off. But he doesn't look the part pale as a corpse either. He grimaces and leans over, accepting the bottle. “I don't understand how you can just lie in the sun for hours without dying of boredom and heat.” He scans the label on the bottle. There are plant extracts and vitamins and all sorts of impressive-sounding patents that were probably picked out by a promotional department.

“Just ten minutes.” Booster rolls over on his stomach, resting his forehead against his arm with a lazy smile. “You’ll look so sexy you’ll want cutouts in your costume to show off your tan.”

Ted laughs and squeezes a dollop of the lotion into his hand. It's smooth, silky -- not globby and oily like the stuff he's used before. He begins spreading it on his arm.

“No, you gotta --” Booster sits up on his knees and gestures to the bottle. “_Way_ more.”

“Didn’t you tell me this is top-shelf stuff?” Ted holds up the bottle. “That’s gotta be expensive, you want me to waste it?”

_There’s more of me than there is of you._

“You’re only wasting it if you're not gonna use enough and get a sunburn because of it.”

"Fine," Ted sighs and squeezes out more. "Your loss."

_"...Stay, 'cause this boy wants to gamble, stay, love's more than he can handle..."_

Booster regards him silently for a while when his smile fades, a hint of worry in his face. “I bought it with my own money, you know. Not the fund.” He pulls his fingers through his hair. “Do you think --”

“How many times have you listened to this tape by now?” Ted continues applying the lotion to his shoulders, his neck, pretending not to have heard Booster's question. “You gotta be sick of it.”

“It’s a good tape,” Booster shrugs with an uneasy smile. “The only one to be found on this island, I think. I traded a bottle of hair gel for it.”

_"...Only love's paradise, oh she's only looking to me..."_

“Hair gel?” Ted laughs. “For you, that’s dearer than rubies.”

Booster grins and opens his mouth like he’s about to reply to Ted’s brilliant takedown, but without warning he leaps forward and tackles Ted, bodily knocking him back into the sand. It forces a yelp out of Ted, who kicks ineffectually against the ground, not finding purchase. Booster rests his hands on Ted's chest and grins, relishing his victory. "That's what you get for teasing, I'll --"

Ted inhales and swiftly grabs hold of Booster’s wrist and forces it back, abruptly moving Booster’s center of gravity. He grins back at Booster, hooking a leg around him, and shoves him to the side, rolling Booster on his back with Ted on top, straddling his waist. There’s a series of grunts and giggles as Booster tries to push him off, but after some intense flailing Ted finally pins his wrists above his head, against the warm sand.

Booster pants with a grin. “Ah. Holy shit.”

“Give up?” Ted feels a drop of sweat run down his nose.

“It’s only because my arm --”

“Like hell it is,” Ted grins, shifting his position on top of Booster, trying not to notice how hot Booster’s skin feels between his thighs. “You and your arm was declared fit for duty ages ago.”

Booster sighs, breathing hard. Still grinning. “Okay, fine.” He looks at him with those intensely blue eyes, bluer than the sea next to them. “Can you fucking kiss me already?”

Ted makes a noise, his gaze moving to Booster’s parted lips without him meaning to. He pauses, breathing hard, the temptation overwhelming now they're thinking about it. How good it would be, how delicious the rise and fall of Booster's heavy breathing feels between his legs right now. How obediently, beautifully Booster is lying under him, his wrists pinned over his head.

He pauses before he swiftly releases Booster’s wrists and sits up. “We can't.”

“We’re all alone,” Booster murmurs, sitting up halfway and trailing fingers down Ted's thigh. “No one’s allowed out here but us.”

“Doesn’t mean people can’t stumble in.” Ted clears his throat, shuffling off Booster and letting himself ungracefully fall to a seated position on the towel. “You’ve lived long enough in New York to know how stupid tourists are.”

“What, like we’re locals on Kooey Kooey Kooey now?” Booster sighs, sitting up and hugging his knees.

“Of course not, you know what I --”

“You should put on more lotion.”

Ted tries to say something, but it'll only be reiterating his point.

Brushing off as much sand as he can from his skin, Ted focuses singularly on applying lotion to his legs as Booster lies back down in the sun, his eyes obscured by his sunglasses.

That restless itch in Ted is back, the one that's been plaguing him for a while. They have to abstain a little longer, while they're here. A scandal at this point would sink the whole Club JLI project. It sucks but that's how it is. A temporary sacrifice until this thing really gets off the ground, then they'll have enough money to... To do whatever they like. With each other. Buy a secluded place they can disappear to whenever they like. 

Seagulls cry and a cheerful bass riff plays on the cassette player.

Ted clears his throat, reaching over for the volume dial, turning it up. "Hey, it's our theme song again."

"What, Gilligan's Island?" Booster murmurs.

Ted snorts. "Like you've ever watched Gilligan's Island."

"I know it's a show about an island and there's a theme song."

_“...Let me take you to the place where membership’s a smiling face...”_

_“...Brush shoulders with the staaaars,” _Ted sings along, waving a foot to the beat.

Booster folds his hands behind his head. _“...Where strangers take you by the hand and welcome you to wonderland,"_ he joins in, unable to stop himself. _“From beneath the planet Mars,”_ he continues, earning a playful slap on his arm from Ted.

“It’s ‘beneath their panamas’, you schmuck.”

Booster giggles. “It's not, you can't convince me otherwise.”

Their voices come together again. _“Club Tropicana, drinks are freeeee," _they sing, voices loud._ "Fun and sunshine, there’s enough for everyone...”_

_“...All that’s misssing is the seeeea,”_ Ted sings, then stops when he realizes Booster's not singing along anymore. He looks over, and even with the sunglasses he can tell Booster’s frowning. It makes something vibrate restlessly within him.

“You're really sure about this?” Booster murmurs, facing the sea.

“Sure about what?”

Booster twists around to turn the volume down again. “It’s a lot of money.”

“You’re still worrying about that?” Ted smirks, and continues applying lotion. He hates how it clings to his chest hair. “Booster, look, we’re doing the League a massive favor with this. They’re going to have so much money in just a little while, a thousand times more to do good things with.”

“I don’t know,” Booster says, trailing a circular pattern in the sand. “Max and the others, they’re pretty mad.”

“Just because they can't see the big picture yet,” Ted replies, wondering how many angry phone calls from Max the receptionist has put on hold today. “You wanted to show everyone what you can do, that's what we're doing here. No more laughing, no more bottom rung."

"I guess," Booster mutters, though he's sounding anything but convinced.

"Besides, the funds were for the League. We’re the League, right?” He smiles at Booster. “We're pretty much the core members. And we chose to invest it, so we can all have a bigger fund in the end.”

“It was a _lot_ of money.” Booster places his sunglasses on the towel and pulls his fingers through his hair.

“Booster, trust me.” Ted reaches up and grabs hold of Booster’s hand, always so restless, always playing with his hair when he gets nervous. “It just feels very dramatic because you don’t have my business experience. At Kord Industries I’d move that kind of money around every day.” He trails his thumb over Booster’s hand. “You gotta spend money to make money, you see?”

Booster groans, but smiles gently and squeezes Ted’s hand in his. “You get so corny when you’re corporate Kord.”

“It’s true, though,” Ted huffs. “You and me, we’re -- we’re the only ones who can think outside the box."

You don't make money being a hero, if you did you wouldn't be a hero. So where's the money supposed to come from if not from non-heroing side ventures? Why's he the only one who can see that?

He looks into Booster's eyes. "With my business experience and your _unparalleled_ knack for promotion and advertising--"

Booster giggles.

"The only question is why we didn’t do this sooner.”

There's more, of course there's always more. But those reasons are private. Those reasons are his own. That this will finally show them, show everyone, that he can do this. That he can succeed on his own. Or on his own with a partner of his choosing. That those other times, those flops weren't because of him. He does his best, he always does, but that best only really comes out when he's the one who gets to choose the terms. When he gets to build something from the ground up, not get a position just because his dad put him there.

And the League too. Show everyone his and Booster's place isn’t on the bottom rung, that he -- they -- have initiative and the smarts to pull this off.

That Booster is braver, more clever, better than he thinks he is.

He’ll show them. Show Max. Show his dad. Show them he can lie on a beach while the money rolls in, while people desperately want the services he’s created for them.

“I really would like to kiss you right now,” Booster murmurs, squeezing his hand. “Just once I’d like to do it in the sunshine.”

Ted pulls his hand away, his momentum gone in a rush of heat. “Booster,” he reproaches him.

“Would like to do an awful lot more in the sunshine, too.” Booster tilts his head, smiling mischievously. “We’ve been completely alone on this beach for over an hour, you really think somebody’s gonna run in during the next five minutes?”

“You know it’s not worth the risk.” Ted swallows, looking away.

“Not even five minutes. I bet I could get you off faster than that.” Booster moves closer. “I love a challenge.”

Ted's skin feels like it's burning, and it's not from the sun. “Who’s challenging you?”

“Fine, let’s head back to the hotel then.” Booster places a warm hand on Ted’s knee. His skin so hot, so silky. “We’ll get some champagne from the bar, close the blinds...”

“You know the walls are too thin,” Ted reminds him, feeling like the world’s greatest wet blanket. They had that very close call a few days ago, were lucky to discover how well sound carries into the corridor before someone else made that discovery for them.

Of course he would like nothing more than to spend the rest of the week in bed with Booster. That’s something they’ll plan for when they extend the hotel. Until then, they have to be practical. They can't afford to be found out, can't risk people leaving because they know what the resort founders are up to.

He’s so sick of being the practical one.

Booster groans, flopping down on his back, warm sand sticking to his skin. “Can I at least do your back?”

“Do my back?”

Booster rolls over on his side, motioning to the bottle in the sand next to Ted. “The lotion.”

“Sure,” Ted mutters, hesitantly. _But no funny business._ He's got a heavy feeling in his stomach, tired of being the eternal asshole as the one who always has to say no, slow things down, push Booster away. If only Booster could see the gravity once in a while.

“Lie down already,” Booster grins.

Ted complies with a sigh, sinking down on his stomach, his forearms folded above his head.

There’s a wet sound of Booster squeezing lotion into his hand, and then the sensation of coolness against the small of his back before Booster’s warm palm meets his skin. Booster’s hand moves slowly, deliberately, following the contours of Ted’s body, moving in gentle circles.

Ted exhales slowly, closing his eyes. Enjoying Booster’s gentle touch, those long, strong fingers working their way up to his shoulder blades, his neck.

The pressure, the touch of Booster’s skin disappears for a moment, and Ted stirs, missing it immediately.

That can't have been it. That can't have been their one excuse to touch today, wrestling in the sand not withstanding.

He squeaks in surprise as a shocking, heavy weight settles over his hips, weighing him down. Ted squirms. “Booster, what the hell are you doing?”

“Your back,” Booster giggles, shifting slightly as he straddles Ted’s hips. “Got way better reach this way.”

“Booster --”

“Lie still, I’m not done,” Booster tells him sternly as Ted feels both of Booster’s hands heavy against his back, slick with lotion, gliding up, pushing against him, up alongside his spine, between his shoulder blades, up to where Booster curls his fingers around Ted's shoulders and massages his shoulders.

Ted hears himself groan. Fuck, that feels good.

Booster trails his fingertips lightly all the way down to the small of Ted’s back, and shifts his weight forward again, to his palms, and lets them glide all the way up once more.

A sigh bordering dangerously close to a moan escapes Ted.

“You like that?”

Ted can hear the smile in Booster’s voice.

“We really shouldn’t do this,” Ted groans into the towel as Booster’s strong hands works his shoulders, moving up his arms.

“Do what?” Booster murmurs. “I’m just helping my buddy apply suntan lotion.” He shifts his body slightly back, finding a seat on Ted’s thighs, and Ted startles at the sensation.

“You got a hard-on,” Ted mutters as Booster’s hands find the small of his back again.

“Just a friendly kind of hard-on,” Booster tells him, slowly moving his palms down this time, thumbs playing along the elastic of Ted’s shorts.

“Booster,” Ted murmurs, unsure what he wants. To keep going, to stop, to let every practical thought in his head go, disappear. Booster's touch feels electric, like every inch of skin he touches tingles with energy. He can feel Booster’s erection resting against his ass, and it’s both exciting and vaguely terrifying.

“Fuck,” Booster breathes, and Ted feels Booster’s hips twitch, Booster’s erection resting in the cleft of his ass, separated by their swimwear. Booster groans, rolling his hips, pushing against him.

“Booster, _don’t_,” Ted finally gasps, a panic blooming in his chest. He squirms under Booster’s weight. “Stop.”

Booster immediately moves back, off Ted, landing heavily in the sand with a soft exhale. His breathing’s heavy, and when Ted sits up he tries to ignore the tempting bulge in Booster's trunks, straining against the lycra. Trying to ignore the beginning erection in his own shorts.

“I’m sorry,” Booster says, trying to calm his breathing. “I wasn’t gonna --”

“I know,” Ted quickly tells him, pinching the bridge of his nose. “We just -- we need to be more careful than this.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Booster sighs.

“We have to --”

There’s a tremor in the earth, taking them both by surprise. A tremor that builds until Ted digs his fingers into the sand in lieu of something more definite to hold on to.

_"...Trying to catch your heart is like trying to catch a star..."_ the cassette player continues without a care.

When they earthquake passes, they look at each other, wide-eyed.

“What the hell was that?”

“Mr Gold! Mr Beetle!” A voice rings out across the beach, and Ted has just enough time to pull on a shirt, covering himself as Rima, their native hotel overseer, appears on the path, running towards them.

“What’s going on?” Ted calls out to him, noticing Booster pulling his knees up, covering his erection. “Is everybody all right?”

“I think so,” Rima pants, coming to a halt in front of them. “But there’s a -- there’s a man here asking for you. He's, uh, he's saying that was just the beginning.”

“What man?” Booster asks, pulling his fingers through his hair. “A -- a supervillain, or --”

“Not a supervillain.” Rima waves a hand dismissively. “He says his name is Aquaman. Something about -- the island being upset about the resort?"

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not going to retell the whole Kooey Kooey Kooey saga, I've just added some gay to the edges and next chapter will be more about the fallout after. If you want to know how Club JLI goes down you can look up a wiki or better yet, read the comics (Adam Hughes draws Booster *so* pretty). It's going down the canonical way in this series, just with more sexual frustration.
> 
> Also yes, I'm the one who always sings "Beneath the planet Mars".
> 
> **[Song:](https://open.spotify.com/user/tilly_stratford/playlist/4SqomvmhyncWPEAobYUZ88?si=DNXWufsLSs29KqRywW2U9A)**  
I should be so lucky - Kylie Minogue  
Brother Louie - Modern Talking  
Club Tropicana - Wham!  
Waiting for a star to fall - Boy Meets Girl  
Just between you and me - Lou Gramm


End file.
